PHOENIX - Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno plops down at the breakfast diner, orders the bacon-turkey cheese omelette, heaps on the salsa, and wishes it wasn't 7:30 in the morning.

"I love my beer,'' Moreno says. "Beer makes me smarter.''

These days, perhaps that cold beer is to wash away the memories of watching his ballclub each day.

The trouble is that he can't even go to his favorite watering hole in Newport Beach, Calif. The same folks who used to pat him on the back and buy him drinks are now using those drinks for liquid courage, and telling Moreno what's on their minds.

"They want to tell you how (screwed) up you are and how (screwed) up your team is,'' Moreno tells USA TODAY Sports in a rare interview. "Why did you do this? Why didn't you do that?'

"It's like that Richard Pryor joke when he goes in and sees the doctor. 'Doc, it looks really bad. What are the symptoms? The doc says, "You're looking at the symptoms.''

Moreno, 66, one of the most passionate owners in baseball who pores over his morning box scores, laughs loudly, but abruptly stops. This season has been a colossal failure, with the Angels – 33-43 – off to their worst start in 20 years. They have four more victories than the Houston Astros, despite a $105 million payroll difference, and over the weekend were swept at home by the Pittsburgh Pirates, who Sunday erased a three-run, ninth-inning Angels lead.

It's a startling downturn for a club that made the playoffs five times in Moreno's first six full seasons as owner, but is on track to miss the postseason a fourth straight season.

Along the way, Moreno's reputation has taken its share of hits – and he's definitely noticed.

The man who four years ago was called "Baseball's Best Boss,'' by Forbes, and a hero for spending $375 million on sluggers Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton, is being lambasted for lavishing riches on players who appear to be in decline.

Hamilton has been perhaps baseball's biggest flop the first 2 ½ months, hitting .207 with a .262 on-base percentage, getting benched in some games and even dropped to seventh in the lineup.

Pujols is hitting .260 with 15 homers and 47 RBI, but knee and foot injuries have limited him, an unsettling notion for a 33-year-old player signed through 2021. The acquisitions of starters Joe Blanton, Jason Vargas and Tommy Hanson have largely contributed to baseball's fourth-worst ERA.

The frustrations are maddening, but Moreno rejects the notion that manager Mike Scioscia or general manager Jerry Dipoto – hired in October 2011 – are in immediate danger of losing their jobs. Moreno instead will make his evaluations in the off-season. He says Dipoto's brief tenure makes it difficult to assess his performance, but says he "really likes his (analytical) systems" and needs time "to get our system working."

Scioscia, currently baseball's longest-tenured manager with 14 seasons at the Angels' helm, has a $5 million-a-year contract through 2018. He's not spared his job because of his contract, but for his body of work, Moreno says, convinced Scioscia remains one of the game's elite managers.

"Mike has earned an opportunity to get this thing straightened out," says Moreno. "I'm not going to judge Mike on the first two, three months of this season. I think he's a great manager. I don't want to be in a situation where it's like, 'Oh, he should have done this, or done that.' Right now, I can't go there.

"You can put someone in position to succeed as manager but that doesn't mean that they're going to succeed.''

There's no need to look for further evidence than Hamilton.

'Never seen anything like this'

Moreno isn't blaming Hamilton for the Angels' failures, but certainly, no one envisioned such struggles.

"When we looked at him,'' Moreno says, "we're thinking, left-handed power. Good defense. Can run. You put (Mike) Trout, Hamilton, Pujols and (Mark) Trumbo together, that looks great on paper.

"But I've never seen anything like this. I've talked to Hamilton a few times, and told him, 'You're going to be here for awhile. You can't do it all in one day, one night, one week.'

"It's been rough. If he's hitting .270, .280 with 15 homers, it might be a different game for us. I'm not going to judge it now. Five years from now, we can sit down, and then ask me about the investment in the man.''

As for Pujols – hitting .262 with 13 homers and 47 RBI – this likely will be the third consecutive year he's left off the All-Star team, and he may never again match the MVP-caliber numbers he produced in St. Louis. Moreno has no buyer's remorse.

"You look at Albert's numbers,'' Moreno says, "and for the chance to bring that quality of player to Southern California, for our fans to get to see one of the greatest players today, to play in our ballpark every day. You kidding me? That's a treat.

"And he's the gentleman of gentlemen.''

Moreno was one of the game's most accessible owners when he purchased the club in 2003 and immediately lowered some beer prices. Now, he's become almost a recluse with the local media.

"It's one thing to be criticized, but when people start taking attacking someone personally, really personally,'' Moreno says, "that's a line you cross. And some of these people are just flat-ass cynical.''

Moreno can't understand how he can be ripped one year for not signing free-agent outfielder Carl Crawford, or for being outbid by $20 million on first baseman Mark Teixeira. Then, after he makes the two biggest expenditures for position players the past two winters, he's getting blistered worse than if he'd never made an offer.

"I owe it to the fans to give them hope. I'm not trying to tell you we're doing everything right all of the time, but it's not because we're not trying."

Fishing for a Trout deal

It's easy to say now that instead of signing Hamilton, the Angels should have kept Torii Hunter and perhaps signed pitcher Zack Greinke. Moreno loved Hunter, and what he meant to the franchise, but was concerned that Hunter turns 38 next month. The Angels had Greinke for two months, and just didn't believe he was worth $100 million, let alone the $147 million he received from the Dodgers.

If there's anyone who is going to be their next $100 million-plus player, it will be Trout. He's still two years from salary arbitration, and there have been no discussions about a long-term deal, simply because the Angels have no idea what he's worth.

"That's one of those Go Fish answers,'' he says. "He went 4-for-4 the other night, and I told (wife) Carole, 'How are we going to pay that guy? I mean, where's the number?'''

Certainly, money will never be a problem, says Moreno, who grew up a Yankees fan in Tucson, Ariz., and calls the St. Louis Cardinals baseball's model franchise. The Angels, who were collecting $20 million annually in revenue sharing before Moreno bought the team, now will have their 12th consecutive season of at least 3 million fans. They have a local TV deal worth in excess of $3 billion. And they have an opt-out clause at their stadium in 2016, giving them the option of having their 50-year-old ballpark refurbished, or having an entirely new place built nearby.

"In a perfect world,'' Moreno says, "we'll stay where we are.''

Moreno doesn't even worry about the Dodgers. Moreno actually prefers these free-spending Dodgers to the regime that went broke under former owner Frank McCourt.

Yes, the man who went to court to put Los Angeles back into the name for the Angels, is proud that his franchise has been more successful than the one up the freeway.

"People say, 'Oh, you can't be happy,''' Moreno says. "You kidding? This is a dream. The value of the team has substantially grown. We've got no debt. We play in a great area. I love our fans.

"And we've been one of the most winningest franchises in baseball the last 10 years."

Not that sustaining it is easy.

"The thing about this game," he says, "is that when things are going good, it's great. And when it's bad, it's terrible."